kenshin_NA

Was so much fun over the years, i still remember talking to Statesman(uk event for CoV) when he told me about all these good things coming for my earth controller.......

..... And then Bam!!!! ED!!!!!

Anyways, was an absolute pleasure discussing, posting, helping me with my guide(which i never got around to updating) and all the other random discussions. The time spent playing this game was immense and it was always the people that made it great!

Goodbye from:

Kaigame
Kenshin - still shocked this name never got changed
Mayfair
Billy Blizzard
Zin Itto
J'al
Formax - Who would have thought a Fire/Energy Blaster would be so awesome!
Arctic Saviour
Ayalia
Body Blows
Dahlia Kayne
Gina McFlames
Kayla Strongfist
Kiima Nharn
Kikyo Kusenagi
Lady Gallatea
Leah Naru
Li Wynn
Lynn Bishop
Noisy Bubbles
Noots
Radiesthesia
Shia Tellus
Tahlia Simmons
Tai Ellose
Tara Kay
Train Wreck Express

And many others across the servers. I thank you all for the good times, the amazing trials and Task Forces, the events, random PUG's and the rest.

From Beta to the very end!!!! Thanks for the good times all.

[ QUOTE ]
That's funny. I have been responding to a number of Earth threads lately where folks have had questions about the combo or had earth-related discussions. I have even been running into several Earth controllers in game. Still, I find other combos to be more frequent -- mosly Fire/Kins and Fire/Rads.


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't reply to many threads regarding Earth anymore, but i do read em all

I'll pretty much just repeat what LM says anyways

Hmmmm, might as well play along, see where this goes


Star Strider Forces Registry
Name: Kenshin
Global Contact: @Kenshin
Level of Classification: 50
Origin: Magic
Super Rank & Super Group: No Affiliation(loner!)

[ QUOTE ]
....Some of us are pretty miffed that we couldn't register accounts for CoH until several months after release as we lived outwith the USA/Canada, and can't get the Hallowe'en event badges, yet people who had the privilege of being here at the start think they are somehow entitled to get Isolator.

[/ QUOTE ]

What? participated in the beta, got mowed down by Rikti in the Invasion, heck theres even a video with my hero in it(Souji) and a stranged wrongly conned rikti Monkey.

Maybe there was a locational problem, but the release sure wasn't limited to USA/Canada.

edit: OK, late it with that one, nm.......

Did you know that.............

Kinetic Defenders 'Siphon speed' couldn't be stacked and didn't improve recharge rates, also had a longer animation and was usually skipped.

Speaking of the Rikti Monkey, the first invasion group on the Pinnacle server was conned friendly, we had to wait a while for some non-friendly Rikti to come down.

Love the stories...great!

Was in a team last night, we were all 37ish, and the missions were 40-41, i was 37 at the time, and saw lots of purple Paragon Protectors and Crey Tanks, i thought "This is going to be tough". I looked at the team and we didn't have a tank, so i offered to play the role.

The first group we took on was destroyed in next to no time, the blasters were combining with the scrappers to take down the bosses as quickly as possible, and the Lts and minions were picked off and defeated in no time, i was amazed. I had the occasional problem with Voids, they were always hiding around corners or hidden somehow, and i got picked off every single time, but we all had a good laugh about it.

Then we came across a Shadow Cyst Crystal, i immediately apologised, everyone laughed, we went in, took em down, a couple members fell, but no one complained. It had been a while since i had seen such amazing synergy in a PUG, although granted i had teamed with a couple members a few times previously.

We had so much fun, jokes all around, two of us leveled up within 5 seconds, which was weird at that level, another excuse to have a laugh.

We did a few more missions, all crazy difficult, but we made it through, no complete team wipes but close, no one complained about debt.

Easily one of the best PUG's i've been in yet.


Devouring Earth mission

ME: "i know i'm tempting fate, but i haven't seen any voids in this mission yet"

Defender: "You missed the Blackrose Quantum earlier"

ME "?!?!?!?!?"

One of the scrappers (night life) got some really good news at the beginning of that missions, we had a new grandma in our team! another excuse for some praise and laughs(in good taste of course).

OK, this guide is pretty much null and void, too many changes to just write up a list, Version 3.0 will come soonish

Thanks for all of your kind comments.

[ QUOTE ]
Great guide. I am still digesting it. It is one of the most comprehensive I have seen on the forums. I especially like the way you include other people's builds and not just push your own. Great job!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, one of the problems i had was that the draft versions of the guide and info gathering sections were done on the controller boards, so it all rolls off the bottom eventually. Everyone had put so much effort into creating builds, i couldn't just let them roll off into non-existence, so i included them.

**next version will have more builds **

[ QUOTE ]

Has anyone been able to tell if using Thunderclap+Stalagmites stacks the magnitude so that bosses are disoriented? I haven't been able to focus enough yet to see.

[/ QUOTE ]

I always get a little confused about such things , the only combination that i have personally tried would be stalagmites+fissure, think it might have a higher magnitude that thundercap though.

Isn't the magnitude difference between Lt's and Bosses 1? i can never remember, but if thats the case, then Thunderclap should be able to do the job no?

I think that made sense

[ QUOTE ]
Oh had I only known not to take Stone Prison so early!

[/ QUOTE ]

Stone Prison is pretty good if you want to focus on using quicksand more than cages, it's a lot easier on the endurance, but does only affect the one villain, a handy power nonetheless. Got an Earth/Rad on his way up through the levels, took stone prison for early lvl DPS, will need to get cages soon though


And Thanks!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Suppose I should link this from here, too...

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point

Kaigames Guide to Earth Controlling 2.0

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#2989233

Kaigame's Guide to Earth Controlling Version 2.0 - Includes Issue 4 changes

[ QUOTE ]
Well I can at least edit the copy up on Coldfront. Just fire me off the change. Still a great guide just got better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Level 28 Power:


Currently reads:

Storm: PbAoE Disorient, low magnitude, will only effect minions.

Should read:

Storm: Thunder Clap - PbAoE Disorient, low magnitude, will only effect minions.

Thanks!

[ QUOTE ]
Secondly, hades was in no way evil. The greeks did not have an evil underworld. They didn't really even have much of a concept of evil. Evil was a primarily christian concept, and that came around long after the greek pantheon had migrated into the romans.... same gods, less cool names. Evil is a relatively modern concept... the idea that any person or action can be "fundamentally, universally wrong just because of it's nature".... kind of an odd concept if you think about it. From what I can tell, Zeus was only an opponent of Hades in that damned disney movie.

[/ QUOTE ]

But the Disney cartoon said............

[ QUOTE ]
Awesome work and thanks for the headsup on the change.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a problem

It's funny though, I read, re-read over this thing so many times, and didn't pick up on the fact that the lvl 38 power descriptions has no mention of the Storm power name itself. Curse these forums and the lack of post editing.

[ QUOTE ]
Great Guide Thanks for all the work. I just have one question. Does anyone know the defdebuff values for the various earth control powers. I was trying to build an earth/kin controller but I'm concerned that accuracy maybe a problem.

Thanks again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anytime!

I've pretty much built my build to rely on the defence debuffs from the other powers, powers like stalagmites and cages both have 2 accuracy, whereas my current VG slotting has none, i like going a litte nutty on the bad guys, too many bad days at work are probably the cause

I would say that with Earth/Kin, 4 powers really need multiple accuracy enhancements:
<ul type="square">[*]Stone Cages[*]Stalagmites[*]Transfusion[*]Transference[/list]
Those powers more than any other really need two accuracy buffs.

** Alternative Builds by various Forum posters **


Earth/Kin by Sgt_Liberty:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Kinetics

01 : Transfusion acc(01) hel(3) hel(5) hel(25)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(7) hlddur(7) recred(11)
02 : Siphon Power acc(02)
04 : Stone Prison acc(04)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(15) recred(17)
08 : Swift runspd(08)
10 : Hover fltspd(10)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) disdur(13) disdur(13) disdur(17) disdur(19) recred(19)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(15) fltspd(37)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18) recred(40)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Speed Boost endrec(22) endrec(40) endrec(40)
24 : Increase Density damres(24)
26 : Volcanic Gasses acc(26) acc(27) recred(27) hlddur(29) hlddur(29) hlddur(31)
28 : Maneuvers endred(28)
30 : Tactics endred(30) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(34) thtbuf(36) thtbuf(37)
32 : Animate Stone dam(32) dam(33) dam(33) recred(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Transference acc(35) enddrn(36) recred(36) recred(37)
38 : Fulcrum Shift acc(38) acc(39) recred(39) recred(39)

Earth/FF by Ixnay:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Force Field

01 : Personal Force Field defbuf(01)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(5) hlddur(7)
02 : Stone Cages acc(02)
04 : Deflection Shield defbuf(04) defbuf(7) defbuf(17) defbuf(40)
06 : Hurdle jmp(06)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(11) recred(13)
10 : Insulation Shield defbuf(10) defbuf(17) defbuf(19) defbuf(40)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) disdur(13) disdur(15) disdur(15) recred(19)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Maneuvers defbuf(22) defbuf(37) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(40)
24 : Dispersion Bubble defbuf(24) defbuf(25) defbuf(27) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(37)
26 : Volcanic Gasses acc(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(29) hlddur(29) recred(37)
28 : Tactics thtbuf(28) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(34) thtbuf(36)
30 : Quicksand slw(30)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) recred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Repulsion Bomb acc(35)
38 : Force Bubble endred(38)

Alternative Build(Earth/FF) by Ixnay:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Force Field

01 : Personal Force Field defbuf(01)
01 : Fossilize recred(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(5) recred(11)
02 : Stone Cages acc(02)
04 : Deflection Shield defbuf(04) defbuf(17) defbuf(17) defbuf(19)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11)
08 : Swift runspd(08)
10 : Insulation Shield defbuf(10) defbuf(19) defbuf(40) defbuf(40)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) disdur(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) recred(15)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Dispersion Bubble defbuf(22) defbuf(25) defbuf(34) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36)
24 : Maneuvers defbuf(24) defbuf(37) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(40)
26 : Volcanic Gasses acc(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(37) hlddur(37)
28 : Tactics thtbuf(28) thtbuf(29) thtbuf(29) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31)
30 : Quicksand slw(30)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) recred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Stone Prison immdur(35)
38 : Force Bolt kbkdis(38)

Earth/FF Build by Ground_Force:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Control : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Buff/Debuff : Force Field
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Fossilize /Acc,Hold,Hold,Hold,Hold
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Personal Force Field /DefBuf
Slot[03] Level 2 : Stone Cages /Acc,Acc,Immob
Slot[04] Level 4 : Deflection Shield /EndRdx,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf
Slot[05] Level 6 : Hurdle /Jump
Slot[06] Level 8 : Hasten /Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg,Rchg
Slot[07] Level 10 : Insulation Shield /EndRdx,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf
Slot[08] Level 12 : Stalagmites /Acc,Acc,Dsrnt,Dsrnt,Rchg
Slot[09] Level 14 : Super Speed /EndRdx
Slot[10] Level 16 : Health /Heal
Slot[11] Level 18 : Earthquake /Rchg
Slot[12] Level 20 : Stamina /EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec,EndRec
Slot[13] Level 22 : Dispersion Bubble /EndRdx,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf,DefBuf
Slot[14] Level 24 : Maneuvers /EndRdx
Slot[15] Level 26 : Volcanic Gasses /Acc,Hold,Hold,Hold,Rchg,Rchg
Slot[16] Level 28 : Tactics /EndRdx,HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf,HitBuf
Slot[17] Level 30 : Quicksand /Slow
Slot[18] Level 32 : Animate Stone /Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Dmg,Rchg,Rchg
Slot[19] Level 35 : Stone Prison /Acc
Slot[20] Level 38 : Force Bubble /EndRdx


Earth/Rad Build by Hummus:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Radiation Emission

01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(19) hel(37)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) hlddur(3) acc(3) hlddur(7)
02 : Radiation Infection endred(02) thtdbf(34) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(39) defdbf(39)
04 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(04) recred(5) recred(5) recred(7) endrec(19) endrec(21)
06 : Quicksand slw(06) slw(15)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(13) recred(15)
10 : Stone Prison acc(10) immdur(11) acc(40) immdur(40)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) disdur(13) acc(17) disdur(17)
14 : Super Speed endred(14)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18) recred(21)
20 : Hurdle jmp(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27)
24 : Enervating Field endred(24) endred(31)
26 : Volcanic Gasses hlddur(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(29) recred(29) hlddur(31) rng(31)
28 : Stealth endred(28)
30 : Hover fltspd(30) fltspd(36)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) dam(33) dam(33) recred(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Lingering Radiation acc(35) acc(36) endred(36)
38 : Choking Cloud endred(38) endred(39) hlddur(40)


Earth/Rad by BluntDoctor:

Level 1 --&gt; Fossilize===&gt;Acc(1) Acc(3) Hold(3) Hold(5) Hold(5) Hold(7)
Level 1 --&gt; Radiant Aura===&gt;Heal(1)
Level 1 --&gt; Sprint===&gt;Empty(1)
Level 1 --&gt; Brawl===&gt;Empty(1)
Level 2 --&gt; Radiation Infection===&gt;DefDeBuf(2) TH_DeBuf(7) TH_DeBuf(9) TH_DeBuf(11) TH_DeBuf(13) Range(15)
Level 2 --&gt; Rest===&gt;Empty(2)
Level 4 --&gt; Accelerate Metabolism===&gt;Rechg(4) Rechg(9) Rechg(11) EndRec(13) EndRec(15)
Level 6 --&gt; Stone Cages===&gt;Acc(6) Acc(37) Immob(37)
Level 8 --&gt; Hasten===&gt;Rechg(8) Rechg(17) Rechg(17) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) Rechg(21)
Level 10 --&gt; Combat Jumping===&gt;DefBuf(10)
Level 12 --&gt; Stalagmites===&gt;Acc(12) Acc(36) DisDur(36)
Level 14 --&gt; Super Jump===&gt;Jump(14)
Level 16 --&gt; Swift===&gt;Run(16)
Level 18 --&gt; Earthquake===&gt;Rechg(18) Rechg(21)
Level 20 --&gt; Hurdle===&gt;Jump(20)
Level 22 --&gt; Stamina===&gt;EndRec(22) EndRec(23) EndRec(23) EndRec(25) EndRec(25) EndRec(27)
Level 24 --&gt; Enervating Field===&gt;EndRdx(24) EndRdx(31)
Level 26 --&gt; Volcanic Gasses===&gt;Acc(26) Acc(27) Hold(29) Hold(29) Hold(31) Rechg(31)
Level 28 --&gt; Lingering Radiation===&gt;Acc(28) Slow(34) Acc(36) Slow(37)
Level 30 --&gt; Stealth===&gt;DefBuf(30)
Level 32 --&gt; Animate Stone===&gt;Dmg(32) Dmg(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) Dmg(34) Acc(34)
Level 35 --&gt; Invisibility===&gt;EndRdx(35)
Level 38 --&gt; EM Pulse===&gt;Acc(38) Hold(39) Hold(39) Hold(39) EndRdx(40) Acc(40)


Earth/Storm by Toulo:

Level 1 --&gt; Fossilize===&gt;Acc(1) Acc(3) Hold(3) Hold(5) Hold(5) Hold(7)
Level 1 --&gt; Radiant Aura===&gt;Heal(1)
Level 1 --&gt; Sprint===&gt;Empty(1)
Level 1 --&gt; Brawl===&gt;Empty(1)
Level 2 --&gt; Radiation Infection===&gt;DefDeBuf(2) TH_DeBuf(7) TH_DeBuf(9) TH_DeBuf(11) TH_DeBuf(13) Range(15)
Level 2 --&gt; Rest===&gt;Empty(2)
Level 4 --&gt; Accelerate Metabolism===&gt;Rechg(4) Rechg(9) Rechg(11) EndRec(13) EndRec(15)
Level 6 --&gt; Stone Cages===&gt;Acc(6) Acc(37) Immob(37)
Level 8 --&gt; Hasten===&gt;Rechg(8) Rechg(17) Rechg(17) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) Rechg(21)
Level 10 --&gt; Combat Jumping===&gt;DefBuf(10)
Level 12 --&gt; Stalagmites===&gt;Acc(12) Acc(36) DisDur(36)
Level 14 --&gt; Super Jump===&gt;Jump(14)
Level 16 --&gt; Swift===&gt;Run(16)
Level 18 --&gt; Earthquake===&gt;Rechg(18) Rechg(21)
Level 20 --&gt; Hurdle===&gt;Jump(20)
Level 22 --&gt; Stamina===&gt;EndRec(22) EndRec(23) EndRec(23) EndRec(25) EndRec(25) EndRec(27)
Level 24 --&gt; Enervating Field===&gt;EndRdx(24) EndRdx(31)
Level 26 --&gt; Volcanic Gasses===&gt;Acc(26) Acc(27) Hold(29) Hold(29) Hold(31) Rechg(31)
Level 28 --&gt; Lingering Radiation===&gt;Acc(28) Slow(34) Acc(36) Slow(37)
Level 30 --&gt; Stealth===&gt;DefBuf(30)
Level 32 --&gt; Animate Stone===&gt;Dmg(32) Dmg(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) Dmg(34) Acc(34)
Level 35 --&gt; Invisibility===&gt;EndRdx(35)
Level 38 --&gt; EM Pulse===&gt;Acc(38) Hold(39) Hold(39) Hold(39) EndRdx(40) Acc(40)

Earth/Rad by Arctic_Tempest:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Radiation Emission

01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(31) hel(31) hel(34) hel(37) hel(40)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) recred(3) hlddur(3) acc(5) hlddur(5) hlddur(43)
02 : Radiation Infection endred(02) thtdbf(17) thtdbf(19) thtdbf(19) thtdbf(25) thtdbf(31)
04 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(04) recred(7) recred(15) recred(17) endrec(36) endrec(36)
06 : Stone Cages acc(06) acc(7) immdur(40) immdur(43)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(11)
10 : Enervating Field endred(10) endred(36) endred(37)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(15)
14 : Super Speed endred(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Earthquake recred(22)
24 : Lingering Radiation acc(24) slw(37)
26 : Volcanic Gasses acc(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(29) recred(29)
28 : Quicksand slw(28)
30 : Recall Friend rng(30)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) recred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Teleport rng(35) endred(46) rng(50)
38 : EMP Pulse acc(38) hlddur(39) hlddur(39) recred(39) recred(40)



Earth/Storm by The Pacster:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Storm Summoning

01 : Gale acc(01) acc(11) acc(19)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) acc(3) hlddur(3) recred(5)
02 : O2 Boost hel(02) hel(19)
04 : Stone Cages acc(04) acc(5) immdur(7) recred(7)
06 : Snow Storm endred(06) slw(9) slw(9) slw(17)
08 : Quicksand slw(08) slw(11) slw(17)
10 : Combat Jumping endred(10)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) disdur(15)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Earthquake recred(22)
24 : Freezing Rain endred(24) recred(25) recred(46)
26 : Volcanic Gasses acc(26) acc(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(29) recred(29) recred(31)
28 : Steamy Mist endred(28) damres(37) damres(37) damres(40) damres(40)
30 : Hasten recred(30) recred(31) recred(31) recred(34) recred(36) recred(36)
32 : Animate Stone acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Hurricane endred(35) thtdbf(36) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(43)
38 : Lightning Storm endred(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40)

Earth/Storm by SnakeBit:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Storm Summoning

01 : Gale acc(01)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) acc(3) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(5) hlddur(7)
02 : Stone Cages acc(02) acc(11) endred(11) immdur(50)
04 : Snow Storm endred(04)
06 : Hover fltspd(06) fltspd(7) fltspd(9) fltspd(9) fltspd(19)
08 : Quicksand recred(08)
10 : Recall Friend inttim(10)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) acc(13) disdur(15) disdur(15) disdur(17)
14 : Teleport rng(14) rng(17) rng(21) endred(23) endred(36) endred(42)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18) recred(19) defdbf(21) defdbf(25)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(25)
24 : Freezing Rain recred(24) recred(42) slw(42) slw(43) endred(43) defdbf(43)
26 : Volcanic Gasses recred(26) recred(27) endred(27) endred(29) endred(29) acc(40)
28 : Thunder Clap acc(28) acc(34) disdur(34) disdur(36) disdur(37)
30 : Hasten recred(30) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31) recred(33) recred(33)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) recred(33) recred(34) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37)
35 : Team Teleport endred(35)
38 : Lightning Storm recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) recred(39) dam(40) dam(40)

Earth/Storm(quite pupular) by Areene:

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Storm Summoning

01 : Gale acc(01)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) acc(3) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(7) recred(11)
02 : Stone Cages acc(02)
04 : Snow Storm endred(04) endred(5)
06 : Quicksand recred(06) slw(7)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(15) recred(17)
10 : Recall Friend inttim(10)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(17) recred(19) recred(43)
14 : Teleport rng(14) rng(15) rng(19) rng(37)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Earthquake recred(22)
24 : Freezing Rain recred(24) recred(25) defdbf(27) defdbf(31) defdbf(37) defdbf(40)
26 : Volcanic Gasses acc(26) acc(27) hlddur(29) hlddur(31) hlddur(31) hlddur(36)
28 : Hurricane endred(28) endred(29) endred(34) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(40)
30 : O2 Boost hel(30)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) recred(33) recred(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Steamy Mist endred(35) endred(36) damres(36) damres(40)
38 : Lightning Storm endred(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(42) dam(42)

And now for the second half:


earth Control – Working with Secondaries

It is pretty common knowledge that earth is quite heavy in the control department, lots of different powers for use in different situations, the earth secondary(Defender Primary) powersets can also bring with them more controlling options, and lots of good combinations.

Empathy:

Suggested Build:

**Please see notes at the end of the guide regarding build advice**

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Empathy

01 : Healing Aura hel(01) hel(3) hel(11) hel(19) hel(39) hel(40)
01 : Fossilise acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(7) hlddur(17) hlddur(23) hlddur(37)
02 : Heal Other hel(02) hel(5) hel(7) hel(19) hel(39) hel(40)
04 : Stone Cages acc(04) endred(5) endred(40)
06 : Hurdle jmp(06)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(13) recred(15)
10 : Resurrect recred(10)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) disdur(15) disdur(17) disdur(23) recred(37)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Quicksand slw(22)
24 : Fortitude recred(24) thtbuf(25) defbuf(25) defbuf(36) defbuf(37)
26 : Volcanic Gasses hlddur(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(34) hlddur(36) recred(36)
28 : Recovery Aura recred(28) recred(29) recred(29) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31)
30 : Stealth endred(30)
32 : Animate Stone dam(32) dam(33) dam(33) acc(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Clear Mind recred(35)
38 : Adrenaline Boost recred(38) recred(39)

It’s pretty obvious that Empathy will not be able to do much to increase your controlling ability, other than increasing your endurance recovery powers and healing. But that’s about it, obviously there is more to empathy than that……

Animated Stone + Fortitude:

Stoney doesn’t often need clear mind, in fact, he shouldn’t need it at all, but Fortitude does give a nice accuracy/damage/defence boost, Since Issue 4, Animated Stone has had it’s duration increased to 4 minutes, what this effectively means is that you will have to use fortitude twice to keep it on Stoney for the duration of it’s short life. A power better suited to your team-mates, unless you are solo of course.

Animated Stone + Adrenaline boost:

not worth using on your pets, best to give to another member of your team who will better benefit from it.

Obviously your pets can be buffed, so when they need healing, remember to make sure they are topped up every once in a while, sometimes a little difficult to target amongst the mountains of stone surrounding the enemy, but possible nonetheless.



Force fields:

Suggested Build:

**Please see notes at the end of the guide regarding build advice**

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Force Field

01 : Personal Force Field defbuf(01)
01 : Fossilise recred(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(5) recred(11)
02 : Stone Cages acc(02)
04 : Deflection Shield defbuf(04) defbuf(17) defbuf(17) defbuf(19)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(7) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11)
08 : Swift runspd(08)
10 : Insulation Shield defbuf(10) defbuf(19) defbuf(40) defbuf(40)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) disdur(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) recred(15)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Dispersion Bubble defbuf(22) defbuf(25) defbuf(34) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36)
24 : Maneuvers defbuf(24) defbuf(37) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(40)
26 : Volcanic Gasses recred(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(37) hlddur(37)
28 : Tactics thtbuf(28) thtbuf(29) thtbuf(29) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31) thtbuf(31)
30 : Quicksand slw(30)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) recred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Stone Prison immdur(35)
38 : Force Bolt kbkdis(38)

Bubbles!!!!!

The Force field Powerset is one of my personal favourite powersets, it’s always handy to have a force field defender or controller with force fields around. As I’m sure you know us ‘squishies’ do not have as many hit points as scrappers or indeed tankers, even our pets have more hit points that we do, which gives us a problem, how to mitigate damage other than raw crowd control, enter the Force field set:

Force fields brings increased defence to smashing/lethal/fire/cold/energy and negative energy attacks and Status effect resistance(hold/immobilise/disorient) to the fold, your pets won’t need the status resistance too much, but damage resistance is always handy.

Stoney + Bubbles = Super Stoney:

Stoney will like the extra resistance, although if casting him into a group of mobs you probably won’t be able to get your insulation and deflection shields up and running quick enough to avoid the alpha strike.

Stalagmites + Stone cages + repulsion bomb:


Stalagmites and repulsion bomb should give enough magnitude to incapacitate an entire group, boss or no boss. Of course with the knockback effect from the repulsion bomb you’ll need some way to minimise the distance the mobs travel(if at all), hence Stone cages, quite a long combination to execute, but with inherent knockback resistance, immobilisation and two disorients, you should be ok

Repulsion bomb requires a friendly target(pet) to function, summon your pet in to to mix and away you go.


Storm:

Suggested Build:

**Please see notes at the end of the guide regarding build advice**

Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Storm Summoning

01 : Gale acc(01)
01 : Fossilize acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(5) hlddur(7) hlddur(9) recred(9)
02 : Stone Cages acc(02) acc(3)
04 : O2 Boost hel(04) hel(5) hel(7)
06 : Hurdle jmp(06)
08 : Quicksand slw(08)
10 : Hasten recred(10) recred(11) recred(11) recred(15) recred(19) recred(19)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) disdur(21)
14 : Super Speed Empty(14)
16 : Steamy Mist endred(16) damres(17) damres(17) damres(21) damres(37)
18 : Earthquake recred(18) recred(37)
20 : Health Empty(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(29) endrec(34) endrec(36)
24 : Freezing Rain recred(24) recred(25) recred(25) recred(31) defdbf(36)
26 : Volcanic Gasses recred(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(31) hlddur(36)
28 : Hurricane thtdbf(28) thtdbf(29) thtdbf(40)
30 : Snow Storm endred(30) endred(31) slw(37)
32 : Animate Stone dam(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Stone Prison acc(35)
38 : Lightning Storm acc(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) endred(40)


The Storm Secondary is normally considered overkill in regards to control, with a few powers that conflict with your primaries, but using good tactics and a clear understanding of your powers and how they work together, the pairing can produce an amazing amount of control. Also worth mentioning is that the Storm secondary is the only set with damage dealing capabilities(Kinetics can improve your damage, but doesn’t supply any of it’s own).

Storm has a few debuff’s that can augment your team members(also your pets).

Gale:

This power is a cone based knockback power, as the name suggests, you can blow your opponents around, the most difficult part of this power is know when to use it and when not to. Gale can be used to reposition stray mobs back into your Area of Effect powers such as freezing rain and Volcanic Gases, it takes a bit of positioning and practice but once you get the hang of it, it's rather fun to use.

Stoney + 02 Boost:

Stoney should never get stunned/put to sleep, therefore the only point in using this power on him is to heal him when he gets into trouble.

Steamy mist:

Obviously getting into range of your target without being detected is always a handy thing to have, this combined with SS will give you the ability to get close enough to the mob to cast your PBAoE hold(salt crystals) without too much fuss, other than that, a bit of defence and damage resistance.

Freezing Rain:

Freezing rain adds some amount of control to your arsenal, as well as being an AoE debuff for defence and damage resistance, it also has a good chance of causing knockdown. Adding more recharges on Freezing Rain allows you to stack its effect, not so handy on minions and Lts as they probably won’t last as long, but with bosses, Arch villains and monsters, it will help your team get the job done quicker. Freezing Rain really compliments the Earth Control set well being another location AoE to add to the multitude already available to you.

Earthquake + Freezing Rain:

The two combined should stop any villains from being able to stand up for any extended period of time, with both powers debuffing the enemy, it should be enough to give your team the extra potential it needs, the same applies for your pet,. Stoney will hit harder and more often due to the defence and damage resistance reduction built into Earthquake and Freezing Rain.

Freezing rain + quicksand + Snow storm (add earthquake just to be mean):

Freezing rain also has a fear component like many sustained AoE attacks, and the villains will try to scatter if caught in the effects, obviously the best way to keep them from running would be to keep them in place, and the Earth and storm both provide the capability of doing this to some degree. Quicksand and Snow storm both have a slow component, although quicksand is only movement, snow storm also affects recharge speeds. Also you have immobilise powers from Earth control to also combine with these(Stone cages/prison)

Do remember that endurance is at a premium when trying to sustain snow storm whilst using all of your other powers.

Hurricane 101:

Hurricane is one those powers than can be used really badly or extremely effectively. And I have witnessed both, in outdoor missions, hurricane is incredibly useful and maximising the capability of some of your powers, but can also be a little tricky to master in indoor situations. This power also has an ACC debuff(think Tsoo Sorcerer)

Hurricane + Stone Cages + Volcanic Gases(and other powers in general):

Volcanic Gases is a magnitude increasing, location targeted AoE hold. It sits there doesn’t move and will eventually hold everything in it’s grasp, including bosses, but villains don’t always tend to huddle up into a nice little bunch for you to hold every last one of them, presenting the huddle up tool…….Hurricane.

You can use Hurricane to group the villains to maximise your holding ability, using Stone cages to keep them in place you can then position them back into the range of VG. Great for AoE blasters/anyone and of course your own powers also cause knockback:
<ul type="square">[*]Freezing rain – causes villains to scatter.[*]Animated Stone – will cause knockback if using hurl boulder or Stone Mallet.[*]Lightning Storm – another knockback power.[*]Tornado – Insane knockback, you have been warned![/list]
** Do Remember to recast Stone Cages if you wish to negate knockback, and if you intend on casting this constantly, you may want to slot for a little endurance reduction. **

Indoors Hurricane can prove to be a little tricky as you normally won’t have that much space to position everyone, but It can be done depending on circumstances, another Endurance using Toggle.

Thunder Clap:

Thunder clap is a low magnitude PBAoE Disorient, it’s only able to affect minions so expect some amount of retaliation if for some strange reason you decide to lead off with this power.

Thunder Clap + Stalagmites:

These two combine should be capable of incapacitating multiple bosses plus everything else in the group, positioning is crucial considering that both applications must hit to take effect, be careful and load up and accuracy, and luck.

Tornado:

The ultimate ‘Love it or hate it’ Power in the Storm summoning power set. A huge tornado unleashes ultra knockback loving on your enemies, obviously a little chaotic, but controllable with time effort and lots of endurance. Has many PvP uses and will keep your enemy at a distance(Depending on map layout).

Tornado + Stone cages:

These two really work wonders together, Stone Cages has a 10 second knockback resistance, it’s strong enough to withstand 3 blaster Novas, so handling the Tornado shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately Tornado lasts a little longer than 3 Novas, and therefore Stone cages needs to be reapplied to maintain the knockback resistance. If this is going to be part of your tactics, I would suggest slotting cages for endurance reduction as it will consume a large percentage of endurance on each application.

Lightning Storm:

Once slotted, Lightning Storm deals quite a bit of damage, a Stationary ‘pet’ so to speak, so positioning is crucial for maximum benefit, casting it slightly higher will help to negate the knockback effects.

Lightning Storm/Animated Stone + Freezing Rain:

Freezing Rain’s stackable damage resistance debuff’s mean that your direct damage dealing powers will improve while it is running, and even more so while it’s stacked, once slotted Lightning Storm is a very good addition to your damage dealing arsenal.

** Remember to use Stone Cages/Prison to negate the knockback effects**


Kinetics:

Suggested Build:

**Please see notes at the end of the guide regarding build advice**

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Kinetics

01 : Transfusion acc(01) acc(3) hel(5) hel(11) hel(23)
01 : Fossilise acc(01) hlddur(3) hlddur(7) hlddur(15) hlddur(19) recred(40)
02 : Siphon Power acc(02)
04 : Stone Cages acc(04) acc(5) immdur(7)
06 : Swift runspd(06)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(17) recred(17)
10 : Siphon Speed acc(10)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) acc(13) disdur(13) disdur(15) disdur(19) recred(40)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18) recred(23) recred(40)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(37)
22 : Speed Boost endrec(22) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(37)
24 : Stealth endred(24)
26 : Volcanic Gasses hlddur(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(27) hlddur(29) hlddur(29) recred(31)
28 : Increase Density damres(28) damres(34)
30 : Quicksand slw(30)
32 : Animate Stone dam(32) dam(33) dam(33) acc(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Transference acc(35) acc(36) recred(36) endrec(36) endrec(37)
38 : Fulcrum Shift acc(38) acc(39) recred(39) recred(39)


The kinetics powerset’s main purposes to to increase the overall ability of your team-mates, to make them faster/increase their endurance recovery, or enhance their damage, a lot of good powers in the set.

Speed Boost + Stoney:

Animate Stone suffers from longer animation times and slower attacks than most other controller pets, to this end you’ll want to make him run faster and attack quicker, enter speed boost, Stoney will love this and so will your other pets(team-mates). Obviously the endurance recovery is more important to the team than the speed factor. Since Issue 4, Stoney’s speed has been increased, but the attack rate increase is still handy

Increase Density + Stoney:

Increase Density can improve the Damage resistance of your pet or your team, takes a little while to cast on everyone and of course has a pretty short timer, but the effects are worth it, the more damage resistance you can give Stoney, the longer he'll last, obviously also good for freeing team-mates from being held. Increase Density also has knockback resistance which is even more necessary now that villains can indeed knockback heroes and their pets. Use it wisely, and remember that your pet will last considerably longer than Increase Density.

Siphon Power:

This is a very good power for debuffing enemies, as long as you can stack it sufficiently, although it does become a little redundant once you get Fulcrum Shift. Not really a power to augment damage capability too much, it does stack so the quicker you can recharge it, the more you can stack increasing your teams and your pets damage, and the amount the enemy is debuffed. Siphon power is best for reducing the damage of a single dangerous villain, boss/AV etc they may last long enough for you to stack enough to make a difference.

Fulcrum Shift + Stoney:

This is where Stoney will love you, being able to one shot bad guys because his damage is capped can only be considered a good thing, the more damage the better, just make sure those other pets(team-mates) are nearby so that they can get the buff too.

Repel &amp; AoE management:

Of course Repel’s knockback cannot be forgotten about, using the same principal as Gale, you can reposition the villains so that they are in range of Volcanic Gases/earthquake

Siphon Speed:

Since Issue 4. Siphon speed, stacks and increases your recharge ability, think of it as like a little extra hasten, more pets, more control and more endurance usage, pace yourselves.

Radiation

**Please see notes at the end of the guide regarding build advice**

Archetype: Controller
Primary Powers - Ranged : Earth Control
Secondary Powers - Support : Radiation Emission

01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(19) hel(37)
01 : Fossilise acc(01) hlddur(3) acc(3) hlddur(7)
02 : Radiation Infection endred(02) thtdbf(34) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(37) thtdbf(39) defdbf(39)
04 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(04) recred(5) recred(5) recred(7) endrec(19) endrec(21)
06 : Quicksand slw(06) slw(15)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(13) recred(15)
10 : Stone Cages acc(10) immdur(11) acc(40) immdur(40)
12 : Stalagmites acc(12) disdur(13) acc(17) disdur(17)
14 : Super Speed endred(14)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Earthquake recred(18) recred(21)
20 : Hurdle jmp(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27)
24 : Enervating Field endred(24) endred(31)
26 : Volcanic Gasses hlddur(26) hlddur(27) hlddur(29) recred(29) hlddur(31) hlddur(31)
28 : Stealth endred(28)
30 : Stone Prison acc(30) immdur(36)
32 : Animate Stone recred(32) dam(33) dam(33) recred(33) dam(34) dam(34)
35 : Lingering Radiation acc(35) acc(36) endred(36)
38 : Choking Cloud endred(38) endred(39) hlddur(40)

Of all the Secondaries, radiation is probably the most popular, a lot of very good powers, but at the same time, very endurance intensive. Considered by some to be the debuffing expert, it also brings some crowd control ability into the mix.


Accelerated Metabolism:

This power you receive early on in your career and you’ll be using it until your level 50, resistance to hold/sleep/disorient as well as endurance recovery, attack rate, running speed and damage improvement.

Stoney and AM:

Stoney will love it as it increases his run and attack speeds as well as damage and knockback resistance, Stoney doesn’t get held or need endurance recovery, those effects are handy for the other pets you keep with you.

Radiation Infection + Enervating Field:

These two powers are the mainstay of the set, what the Radiation powersets excel at is improving your teams ability to do damage and decreasing the enemies damage capability at the same time, always a good thing. Being an earth controller, damage is minimal until you reach level 32/34 so having an extra 33% resistance debuff always helps, pet or no pet. Remember that these powers are Anchor powers, meaning they hit one bad buy and spread to the others, if the infected villain falls, so does the debuff.

Stoney + RI/EF:

Stoney because of his knockback heavy powers isn’t the best partner for the Radiation secondary, but there are of course ways to minimise the chaos that he can cause, your Stone Cages although endurance heavy does have the added benefit of preventing knockback from Stoney’s or anyone else’s attacks.

Mutation doesn’t work on Pets, although that would be nice, just summon another one. Same for Fallout, although if you do your job right, none of your teammate pets should be eating dirt!

Lingering Radiation + Quicksand:

Lingering Radiation is very similar to snow Storm in that it affects both recharge and movement speeds. Slow effects will stack, so a good way to bunch them all together.

Choking Cloud + Volcanic Gases:

This cannot quite be considered a boss holding technique as Choking Cloud cannot guarantee it will even effect the boss/bosses in a group. But as Volcanic Gases will increase it’s own magnitude over time, as long as you can keep everyone in range(slows/immobilise), the effects should stack in due time.

EM Pulse + Volcanic Gases:

Now we have Hold Overkill, 2 AoE Holds, one with increasing magnitude, nothing ‘should’ escape these two powers, just one thing to remember, and that is the recharge timer of EMP is longer than Volcanic Gases, it’s a difficult balance between recharge reduction and hold duration that makes VG more effective, but it is your primary AoE hold, so this should be expected. obviously use a slow power or immobilise to keep them in range

All of the above:

Obviously the possibility of using Stone cages, Stalagmites, Quicksand, Volcanic Gases, Earthquake, plus Enervating Field, Lingering Radiation, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse is possible, but will cost a lot of endurance, use your powers wisely, many combinations are possible with these powers.

Specific Builds and Pool Powers:

The builds i have included in this guide are as cookie cutter as you can get, i don't even use one of those. They are just an example of how to build and slot the powers for a near optimum build. Please....PLEASE!!!! play the game the way you want it to, if you want to fly, pick flight, if Superspeed is your thing, then by all means. Different powers are available, each primary and secondary has 9 powers, these builds are not the only way to build a successful hero, powers such as repel, salt crystals, and other powers not listed are incredibly handy in situations, and as a controller i try to pick a build that suits my tactics. More builds from various users will be given at the end of the guide for an alternative outlook, but as always, the final choice on powers and selections will be ultimately your own decision.

Over controlling:

People often talk about over controlling, what exactly is this, probably just using too many overlapping powers whereas a lower amount of controlling would have sufficed, my personal opinion is you can never have too much control, wherever that control comes from, a Tanker Agro'ing and managing mobs, Defenders using their powers to aid in damage mitigation. More is better than less, but always remember to manage your endurance. If you have just cast Recovery aura, or similar power and you have an excess of endurance, why not burn it!

Final words and comments:

The road to level 50 has been long and fun (for the most part). I would say that if it wasn't for the Supergroup that Kaigame is affiliated with, and the people on Triumph I probably wouldn’t have stuck it out, and probably wouldn’t be playing this game anymore. For me it has always been the people that made the game for me and not the powers, or content and such. Finding a good bunch of people to team with regularly will ease the grind a little and make the journey that much more enjoyable.

Special thanks to Jinrai for getting me interested in the first place in Earth control, Ground Force, Gamble, RepoJam, Alera, TacRedline,, Sgt Liberty and Sakura Kitsuki for your valuable insights into the various combinations of powersets, To the Dominion, a great Supergroup with great leaders and members over the many months, and in general the Coh Community both online and on the Forums for being such a great bunch of people to spend my free time with.


Have fun,

Kaigame, Dominion Archon – Triumph Server

[/ QUOTE ]

** Compilations of builds on next post**

Kaigame’s Guide to Earth controlling Version 2.0

Improvements from Version 1.0:

1) Breakdown of powers by secondary powerset and level attained.
2) Power Slotting recommendations(both primary and secondary).
3) Minor text errors fixed(e.g, removed myself from the list of people who helped me complete this guide).
4) Power descriptions updated.
5) Builds by Forum posters added to the end of the guide.


So you want to be an earth Controller?

First of all I would like to say that the Controller community has contributed to specific points on this guide, but the basis of this guide is predominantly formed from my opinion. I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible, but as always the best way to find out how a power works is to try it for yourself.

Secondly, I would like to add that in this guide you will find no numbers on powers effectiveness, I don’t like number crunching, although sometimes it’s nice to know what specific powers do, I don’t think it helps me to play better if I know the exact amounts that a power does, if it debuff’s, it debuff’s, not my speciality.


The life of an earth controller:
The life of your average earth controller is a tough one, lacking damage dealing abilities until your final Primary power at level 32, also because of the graphical weight of some powers you may even find the need to drop your game detail settings at times when you have to control multiple groups. I would not say that it’s hard work, it’s a game after all, but the time you have to invest into getting your hero to the higher levels can seem quite daunting at times, but persevere earth trollers, your team(s) will love you for what you bring to the table in terms of controlling ability.

I can’t solo well, earth is Crap Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!1111:
Some people give up on a controller early because of the lack of damage dealing ability, there are a lot of people who have taken pool fighting abilities to augment their controlling powers, obviously something has to give in order to make way for power pool selections, it is possible to make a ‘scraptroller’ and then 'respec' the fighting powers out once you no longer feel the need for them, this guide is not the place for such information but can be obtained through searching for information regarding the fighting power pool and other damage dealing power pool selections, but do remember why you picked an earth controller in the first place.

Powers:
earth control, just like any other power set ‘currently’ has 9 powers to choose from, apparently there will be a tenth and nobody quite knows what it will be, having no information on the tenth power means I can’t exactly include it on this list, also quite a few earth control powers have a –Defence component, I won’t include much information on this as most people have accuracy enhancements as missing just wastes endurance.


Stone Prison: Level 1
Ranged Foe Immobilise, -Defence, -Flight - ACC:95%, Endurance Cost:11.5
Damage: Smashing DoT
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Reduction, Immobilize duration, Range, Recharge Reduction.

The first power(along with Fossilise) available to an earth controller, the visual effect is similar to stone cages in that stone pillars rise from the ground and immobilize an opponent, the opponent can still attack, and his defence will be weakened, this power does minimal damage over time, one small fact that isn’t documented anywhere is that this power has a higher magnitude than Stone Cages(also lower endurance cost) making it able to immobilise AV’s, to this day I have not found an AV(arch-villain) that I couldn’t immobilise, I’m sure there are some around, haven’t seem them yet. Depending on your play style it is advisable to take this power later in your career when AV’s become a little more frequent, both cages and prison also have a –Fly component and 10 seconds of knockback resistance.

Recommended Slotting: Stone Prison is a power I would recommend taking at the later stages of your career, a single target immobilise is only of so much use, but it’s ability to immobilise Arch villains on a single application(with a few exceptions) can prove to be very handy, nothing quite like a rampaging Arch villain to cause panic. 2-3 slots would be more that adequate for such purposes, at least on Accuracy enhancement and a couple of immobilise durations should more than cover it.



Fossilise: Level 1
Ranged Foe Hold, -Defence – ACC 95%, Endurance Cost:12.5
Damage: Smashing
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Reduction, Hold Duration, Range, Recharge Reduction.

Your main power, this will more than likely see more usage over your career than any other power, a single target hold, held mobs can’t move, can’t run, can’t attack, always a good thing. This power on it’s own cannot hold Bosses or AV’s, but is stackable with itself or any other hold power, used twice it will hold a boss/AV, the hold will only last as long as the first application’s duration. Do bear in mind that fossilise does not have any knockback resistance, apply stone cages/prison to prevent your held foe from getting bounced around.

Recommended Slotting: Fossilise should only need 1 accuracy enhancement to be of use on most foes, hold duration is the key for managing multiple bosses, 3-4 hold durations are more than adequate, recharge is pretty quick with Perma hasten.


Secondary Power Options at level 1:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Healing Aura - PbAoE Heal - Worth Slotting, only heal you can use on yourself.[*]Radiation: Radiant Aura - PbAoE Heal - Worth Slotting, The only directly healing power in the set.[*]Kinetics: Transfusion - Targeted enemy AoE - again, only heal in the set and worth slotting.[*]Force Field: Personal Force Field - as close to Phase Shift as you can get without actually having Phase Shift.[*]Storm: Gale - Handy in certain situations, good for grouping villains in a corner.[/list]
Stone Cages: Level 2
Ranged (Targeted AoE) Foe Immobilise, -Defence, -Flight, ACC:65% Endurance Cost: 22.5
Damage: Smashing DoT
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Reduction, Immobilize duration, Range, Recharge Reduction.

This power has caused many a person ‘Lag’, someone may see their frame rate drop or worst case…stop, they will attribute this to ‘Lag’, Stone Cages is very Graphically intensive but does have a few benefits:
<ul type="square">[*]AoE Immobilise: AoE = Area of Effect, your first primary power that effects more than one villain at a time, it is also ranged, no need to be up close and personal, but it does require line of sight to activate,
[*]-Fly: Any flying mobs cannot be held in the air, this obviously makes sense as there isn’t enough earth in the air to create the amount needed to encase a foe, it isn’t guaranteed to drop flyers, but multiple applications will drop them to the ground.
[*]-Knockback: there are a lot of high knockback powers in the game, for approx 10 seconds stone cages and stone prison will grant anti knockback ability to your arsenal, very handy for your pets(will touch on later) and for other heroes, scrappers/tankers hate having to run after bad guys, this negates the need to chase, I have personally seen stone cages completely negate the high knockback of many blasters Level 32 powers simultaneously.

And of course the –Defence component, not exactly crucial once everyone can hit.[/list]
Recommended Slotting: The slotting requirements of Stone Cages may change throughout your career, you may find that you don’t need as many slots in this power to be of adequate use, 3-4 Slots would be more than sufficient, with 2 of those reserved for Accuracy enhancements, depending on tactics, endurance reduction may be handy and immobilise duration.


Secondary Power Options at level 1:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Healing Aura - PbAoE Heal - Worth Slotting, only heal you can use on yourself.[*]Radiation: Radiant Aura - PbAoE Heal - Worth Slotting, The only directly healing power in the set.[*]Kinetics: Transfusion - Targeted enemy AoE - again, only heal in the set and worth slotting.[*]Force Field: Personal Force Field - as close to Phase Shift as you can get without actually having Phase Shift.[*]Storm: Gale - Handy in certain situations, good for grouping villains in a corner.[/list]
Secondary Power Options at level 2:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Heal Other - one of two single target heals, again worth slotting.[*]Radiation: Radiation infection - reduces enemy Defence and Accuracy, another good power.[*]Kinetics: Siphon Power - reduces damage from a single target and transfers it to your team, very handy.[*]Force Field: Deflection shield - Grants an ally defence against Smashing and lethal damage as well as Toxic resistance - a very good power.[*]Storm:02 Boost - Single target heal, also gives resistance to Sleep and disorient effects and also endurance drain resistance.[/list]

Quicksand: Level 6
Ranged (location AoE), -Flight, -Jump, -Speed, -Defence, ACC: Auto-hit, Endurance Cost: 15
Damage: N/A
Valid Enhancements: Endurance Reduction, Recharge Reduction, Slow

A very simple power, it layers the floor with a bubbling sounding effect, slowing the movement speed only of most villains passing through, reasonably low endurance cost, the uses for this power will be explained later. From Issue 4, Quicksand also provides a small defence debuff and negates flight in close proximity.

Recommended Slotting: Great out of the box, uses little endurance and works a treat, with single slot with a Slow or Recharge reduction.

Secondary Power Options at level 6(4 for secondaries):
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy:Absorb Pain - your largest single target heal, prevents you from being healed for 10 seconds.[*]Radiation: - Accelerated Metabolism - Grants +Speed, +Recharge, +Recovery, +damage, and resistance to controlling effects.[*]Kinetics:Repel - will knockback most villains who come within range.[*]Force Field: Force Bolt - single target Knockback can be used like Gale/Repel to keep foes in range of controlling effects.[*]Storm: Snow Storm - Foe AoE, Reduces villains speed and recharge.

First pool power selection[/list]
Salt Crystals: Level 8
Point Blank AoE Sleep, -Defence, ACC: 65% Endurance Cost: 22.5
Damage: N/A
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Endurance Reduction, Recharge Reduction, Sleep Duration.

Some people swear by this power, others hate it, it all depends on your play style and who you group with, It is a Point Blank AoE sleep with flashy graphics, anyone caught will be held in very pretty crystals until someone attacks them. The person breaking the sleep will normally gain the agro of the imprisoned foe, once broken, the foe will have his defence debuffed.

If you are primarily teamed with low AoE heroes, scrappers, tankers, this power can take a lot of danger out of a battle, with your team mates engaging one foe after another, AoE attacks are never sleep friendly.

Recommended Slotting: If you intend on using this power, slot it, two Accuracy enhancements and sleep durations will do the trick, obviously slots are at a premium, choose wisely.


Secondary Power Options at level 10:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Resurrect - Restores a fallen comrade to full health and Endurance, very high endurance cost.[*]Radiation: Enervating field - reduces the damage and damage resistance of all affected villains.[*]Kinetics: Siphon Speed - Drains speed from the targeted villain and grants +speed and +recharge to the caster, stackable.[*]Force Field: Insulation Shield - Grants Defence to Fire/Cold/Energy(positive and negative).[*]Storm:Steamy Mist - AoE Resistance to Cold/Fire and Energy and +Defence, also grants Stealth.[/list]

Stalagmites: Level 12
Ranged (Targeted AoE) Foe Disorient, -Defence, ACC: 55 Endurance Cost: 15
Damage: Smashing
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Disorient Duration, Endurance Duration, Range, Recharge Reduction.

Another incredibly handy power in the earth Control set, one never to be overlooked, an AoE disorient which works the same as Stone cages, used together should totally incapacitate a group of minions/Lts, the magnitude of Stalagmites is insufficient to disorient a Boss/AV but the power is stackable, as it has a longer recharge time than stone cages, you won’t really be able to use it as a boss holding power, you have far better options than that. One thing to note is that Stalagmites is only useable on the ground, flyers beware!!!

Recommended Slotting: Two accuracies are needed on this power, and then lots of disorient duration, if possible a recharge reducer also.


Power Options at level 14:

By this time you should have had the prerequisites for your Travel Power(Flight/Super Speed, Super Jump and Teleport) now is the time to turn off that sprint power you've used so much.


Secondary Power Options at 16:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy:Clear Mind: Grants Protection from all types of controlling effects(sleep. disorient, immobilise, hold).[*]Radiation: Mutation - Restores a fallen team-mate to full health and endurance, also boosts Speed, Recovery, Accuracy and attack speed.[*]Kinetics: Increase Density - Resistance to Smashing and Energy Damage, also knockback/down protection and resistance to controlling effects, 1 minute duration, and -speed(very small).[*]Force Field: Detention Field - Basically Enemy targeted Phase Shift, they cannot attack, you can't attack them.[*]Storm:Freezing Rain - AoE Defence and Resistance reduction for any villains in Range, Minor DoT(Cold) also reduces recovery and speed.[/list]
earthquake: Level 18
Ranged(Location AoE) Foe Knockdown –Accuracy, -Defence, ACC: N/A, Endurance cost: 15
Damage: N/A
Valid Enhancements: Defence Debuff, Endurance Reduction, Knockback distance, Range, Recharge Reduction, Tohit Debuff.

Personally, my absolute favourite power in the entire set, don’t you just hate Circle of Thorns Ruin Mages with their high knockdown abilities, get some of your own!! Earthquake is a targeted location AoE high knockdown power, anything will be knocked down as of the release of Issue 4, yes it will knockdown level 50’s, just don’t expect to survive once they hit back at level 18. earthquake also has a defence debuff and to-hit debuff, bad guys can’t hit you when they can’t stand up.

Recommended Slotting: Another power that works great out of the box, many topics have started regarding the amount of defence debuffing and tohit debuffing Earthquake does, most people don’t slot for anything other than recharge, the more the merrier.


Secondary Power Options at 20:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Fortitude - Increases an allies Accuracy, Damage and Defence.[*]Radiation: Lingering Radiation - Foe AoE, Reduces a villains speed and recharge.[*]Kinetics: Speed Boost - Increases an allies speed, recharge and Endurance Recovery.[*]Force Field: Dispersion Bubble - Grants added Defence and resistance to immobilisation, disorient and hold effects.[*]Storm: Hurricane - reduces any villain's(in range) Accuracy, reduces their attack range, and can cause knockback, will repel if too close.[/list]
Fourth power available in Pool power selections, normally time to pick up stamina, as long as you have two other powers from the same pool already.


Volcanic Gases: Level 26
Ranged (Location AoE) Pulsing Foe Hold, ACC: 75%, endurance Cost: 37.5
Damage: Minor Fire
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Reduction, Hold Duration, Range, Recharge Reduction.

The best damned AoE hold in the game, not graphically intrusive, but incredibly potent, a layer of green mist covers and swirls over the ground around the targeted location, this hold lacks the -20% accuracy penalty of other AoE holds, but doesn’t necessarily hold everything at once, there seem to be two effects of the hold, a green mist surrounding the face of the foe, or you can see them choking on the plume of gas that extends from beneath their feet, works very well on Minions and Lts…….but:

Bosses/AV’s: Both of these two types of villains require a double application of any hold to take effect, Volcanic gases pulses(re-applies the hold) as a villain is in range, therefore increasing it’s own ability over time, this time isn’t very long and in conjunction with your other powers can maintain control of multiple bosses simultaneously.

Recommended Slotting: Although it can be slotted with accuracy, it doesn’t seem to make much of difference, but with your other powers providing a defence debuff, they will make up what Volcanic Gases seems to lacking in the ‘tohit’ department. Depending on how many slots you have spare, I would suggest pouring as many hold durations into it as possible. With Hasten, one recharge is enough to ensure that Volcanic Gases is ready once it’s finished. Another thing to think about is considering the pulsing reapplying nature of the hold, stacking Volcanic Gases is another option, obviously at a sacrifice to each pulse’s duration.



Secondary Power Options at 28:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Recovery Aura - Hero Crack, Increase your Endurance Recovery and any allies in range at the time of casting.[*]Radiation: Choking Cloud - a PbAoE hold, will pulse through 50% of the surrounding targets.[*]Kinetics: Inertial Reduction - Basically, PbAoE Superjump for you and your team-mates.[*]Force Field: Repulsion Field - Will keep any Enemies from coming anywhere near melee range, costs more end the more foes you repel.[*]Storm: PbAoE Disorient, low magnitude, will only effect minions.[/list]


Animate Stone: Level 32
Summon Pet(melee/Ranged) ACC: 75%, Endurance Cost:37.5
Damage: smashing
Valid Enhancements: Accuracy, Damage, Disorient duration, Endurance Reduction, Knockback Distance, Range, Recharge Reduction

Ahhh, your little damage dealing buddy, what can I say? It’s a disposable tank, although doesn’t quite have the health to stand toe to toe with an AV, it will easily soak an alpha strike and continue fighting. Highly resistant to hold/sleep/immobilise techniques and resistant to Psionic damage. Stoney isn’t very quick, either in movement or in attack rate, but it is also very protective of you, with it’s inherent taunt in it’s attacks it will attack your attacker and maintain agro until it/you finishes them off. Stoney’s speed and damage resistance has been improved since Issue 4.

Stoney has 3 attacks:
<ul type="square">[*] Hurl Boulder: Stoney can attack from range, lifting boulders from the ground and hurling them towards the enemy, not a particularly quick attack, but does a quite a bit of damage, will knock foes away.
[*] Stone Punch: The weakest of the three attacks, it does recharge faster than the other two, in melee range Stoney will punch his attacker, this power also has a small chance to disorient a foe.
[*] Stone Mallet: Equivalent damage to hurl boulder, Stoney uses his huge mallet to mash the enemy into submission, slow recharge, and knockback.[/list]
Stoney can be buffed, but Stealth powers seem to have no affect on him whatsoever.

Recommended Slotting: The change to a 4 minute timer as of Issue 4 hasn’t had much effect on Stoney’s Slotting configurations, most people will slot 3-4 damage, 1 accuracy and 1-2 recharge.



Secondary Power Options at 35:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Regeneration Aura - Like Recovery Aura, but increases Health regeneration.[*]Radiation: Fallout - Use on a fallen comrade to cause Damage to any nearby enemies.[*]Kinetics: Transference - Very similar to Transfusion, enemy targeted Endurance Aura, will also drain endurance from the enemy.[*]Force Field: Repulsion bomb - Used on an ally in melee range, it will cause knockback to all surrounding enemies, can disorient.[*]Storm: Tornado - A violent 'pet' will chase down enemies and knock them around the map(repel) can cause fear and disorient.[/list]

Secondary Power Options at 38:
<ul type="square">[*]Empathy: Adrenaline Boost - single target ally Buff, +Endurance, +Recovery, +Regeneration.[*]Radiation: EMP - Electro Magnetic Pulse - a PbAoE Hold which leaves you unable to recover endurance for a short time.[*]Kinetics: Fulcrum Shift - Draws Damage from all surrounding villains(20% debuff) and transfers it to you and your team-mates/pets in range, 20% for each villain + 40% around the caster. [*]Force Field: Force Bubble, similar to Repulsion Field, prevents the enemy from entering melee range.[*]Storm: Lightning Storm - summons a static cloud which deals damage(lightning) and can cause fear, also reduces endurance recovery to affected villains.[/list]

Additional pool Power Recommendations:

Hasten: Hasten increases the recharge rate of your powers, you will be able to use your powers more often because of it. Always remember that because you can use your powers more often doesn’t mean you have to, you will exhaust your Endurance bar quicker, always pace yourself. Also gives a small defence boost.

Stamina: Almost considered necessary, a very handy power to have, in big prolonged battles Stamina is always helpful in keeping your Endurance bar going, the worst thing that can happen is that you need to cast Animated Stone + Volcanic Gases, and you have no endurance, be prepared to carry lots of ‘catch a breaths’ if not, other Secondary powers can assist in endurance regeneration like Transference(kinetics at level 35), Accelerated Metabolism(Radiation at level 4) and Recovery Aura(Empathy at level 28).

Leadership: filled with AoE team buffs, will keep you all hitting and ducking, Tactics and manoeuvres seem to be the powers most people pick, and once slotted you should be able to remove an Accuracy enhancement from your powers, which will in the end make you more capable:
<ul type="square">
Tactics: Accuracy buff
Manoeuvres: Defence Buff[/list]** Do bear in mind that to have an effective buff from tactics, you will need to 6 slot them, which in turn may draw slots from other powers, make sure you give priority to powers that need them. **

Concealment: Another pool powerset with a few handy powers, such as Stealth, which stacked with another stealth power will provide you with invisibility to most common Villains, grant invisibility to your team-mates and of course Phase shift, a little bit of a waste power as you can’t exactly be of any benefit to your team if you can’t hit anything, but it does have it’s purposes and can be used to great effect. Too many people use Phase Shift for the wrong reasons.

Ancillary Power Pools(Epic)

As you reach level 41, you will be presented with a new set of Power Pools to choose from:

AnotherDeadHero's Guide to The Ancillary Power Pools

This Guide by AnotherDeadHero lists all the Epic Power Pools and their individual abilities, choose wisely.

Respecification:

Over the course of your career in Paragon City, you will be give at least 3 opportunities to adjust your power selections, these Trials are quite difficult but with your Controlling abilities you should be able to make your way through without too much trouble.

These Trials are:
<ul type="square">
24+ Sky Raiders - starts on Valor Bridge, Independence Port.
34+ Freakshow - Starts in the Gaspee, Founders Falls.
44+ Rikti - Rikti Crash Site near the entrance.[/list]
Even if your build is perfect and you don't feel you need to do the trial, i would recommend it, it's whole load of fun with a good team.

**Whilst on the final mission of the respect, you will find many places where you, ‘the controller’ can use your non ‘line of sight’ powers to effectively control the side rooms without sustaining any damage, Quicksand + Volcanic Gases + Earthquake will create an area where the villains cannot escape from, enabling your team-mates to continue without too much harm**

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Earth Control: Bound by the Earth

Earth control as the name suggests has certain limitations, most of your attacks will only affect grounded targets(with the exception of Stoney’s Ranged attacks and Stone cages and Stone Prison). What this basically means is that a target has to be on the ground to be properly affected. Here’s an example:
<ul type="square">[*]You are on a team street hunting in Crey’s Folley/Brickstown/Talos with a team, and you encounter a pack of Freakshow/Clockwork, The Tanker or whoever goes in first and you begin to lay your various powers around the area, one of the Freakshow/clockwork gets knocked back or wasn’t on the ground in the first place, just being off the ground has enabled them to be free from their control, the second they hit the ground, the hold/disorient is in effect.
[*]You are fighting Devouring Earth in a mission/street/whichever, You hold a Sentry in place and Stoney grabs a boulder from the ground and throws it at the Sentry, causing knockback, as the Sentry is flying through the air, he is no longer affected by the hold and managed to cast a Cairn, this example works for other types of DE which cast similar AoE buffs(Emenators).[/list]
It’s worth remembering that controlled villains who are rooted to the ground(prison/cages) will not have a chance to cast any powers as they cannot be knocked around. This method also counteracts the knockdown of Earthquake for as long as the 10 second knockback resistance is in place.

Combinations/Tactics:

Certain Powers can combine with one another to great effect, here are some examples of this synergy:

Stone Cages + Stalagmites:

Stone Cages + Stalagmites forms you first AoE hold, if they can’t attack or move, they are controlled. remember to reapply Cages for anti-knockback.

Earthquake and the Difficulty Slider

Earthquake used to have limitations on whether it did knockback or knockdown, this was dependent on level differences, anything +1 except for underlings would be knocked down, and anything lower would be knocked back, since Issue 4, this has been changed and any level villain should be knocked down, no more need to up the difficulty to force knockdown effects, this doesn’t mean that a well armed controller cannot safely manage higher level groups in a team/solo environment.

Fossilise + Salt Crystals

This combination can also incapacitate a group, although very dangerous as the ‘boss’ has to be hit(successfully) both times to take effect, you’ll gain the agro from the minions/Lts and possibly find your way back to the hospital.


Volcanic Gases + quicksand +/or Earthquake:

Overtime, this has the ability to hold everything in it’s radius up to Boss level, also does not require line of sight, very handy ambush type technique, lay down these two, someone snipes or agro’s a group, watch them get held as they try to pass, use Earthquake to stop any mobs from escaping the range, and to prevent any bosses from constantly attacking while the pulsed holds stack. It’s worth noting that the defence debuffs from your other powers will assist in Volcanic Gases’ ability.

Volcanic Gases + Fossilise:

Used to hold a boss in a group, in 3 seconds you’ll be able to hold a Boss, whilst having the rest of the group choking on the fumes.

All of the above:

Volcanic Gases + earthquake + Stone Cages + Stalagmites + Quicksand + Fossilise

Having so many controlling abilities doesn’t mean you have to use them all at the same time, but it doesn’t hurt, having a minion disoriented, immobilised, held, slowed and possibly falling to the ground is as safe as you can get(bar defeating them), Also any one of your powers could miss, having a backup in case one fails is the essence of control, and the main skill of the earth controller, I didn’t include Salt Crystals as 4 out of 6 powers there do some form of minor damage effectively breaking the hold, use your powers wisely.

Using Your Pet:

Pets in general are inherently unpredictable, you can't control them, being a controller you would have thought this was standard, but will hopefully be something to add in a future update.

Positioning of yourself and your summoning point of your pet is crucial to maximising the possibility of them working along with you, instead of on their own, having them run behind you after someone starts off the attack seems to yield the best results, they sometimes appear to be working together, although nice to see, it's just that they managed to target the same foe, but it does seem to happen often.

Do remember, your pets are very protective of you, whoever attacks you will anger them(unless this was removed), although if you cannot handle the impending agro, your pets will not be able to soak this from you straight away, always have some luck inspirations handy, i have occasionally seen my Pets acting as if there was someone actually controlling them, cycling all 3 attacks(mostly 2), attacking multiple targets as well as a player could, but not often.

Kamikaze Pet:

**Lead off with your Pet**

Animated Stone, Volcanic Gases, Quicksand and earthquake do not require Line of Sight to activate, meaning you can place them anywhere you like as long as you can see it and target that location(as in around corners), and a very potent manoeuvre to use at the beginning of a battle, Quicksand slows and Volcanic Gases pulses, Bosses will be held once in the area long enough, whilst your pets start beating on the enemy, using earthquake will also prevent them from leaving the lockdown area.

Remember to start with your pet, then use whichever powers suit the situation, hunting in bricks, seeing 5th Column/Council minions/Lts, no need to waste Volcanic Gases, salt crystals or stalagmites/Stone cages will do the trick, even both sets to make sure, but wait until their AoE damage has finished first.

On groups with bosses, your pet can handle itself for a little while, whilst you lay volcanic gases and incapacitate the boss and surrounding villains, following up with stalagmites or quicksand ensures the group is unable to attack, of course always there is a small chance of a miss.

[/ QUOTE ]

** Continued on next Post**

[ QUOTE ]
As you say the changes mostly take effect in the 30s. I don't think it would effect controllers too much as thier pets do most of the work in the later part of the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't mean to pick on this one too much, not all Controllers have pets, and they are not all equal in Damage per second either, I had a quick play on the test server and those Rikti Bosses sure were tough, but because of the 'controlling' factor in some aspect you are correct, it was still relatively risk-free, will just take a long time, would love to hear some experiences from a Mind/Grav/Ice Controller.

Hoping to get a response on this one, juse a few questions regarding the Earth Control Powerset:

1) Earthquake - Any chance in getting a colour change to distinguish between friend or foe?

2) Animated Stone - I noticed you mention stone armour for tanks being looked at, would Stoney be included in this artwork change and if not, are you looking at it? Someone else in the thread mentioned the abilities of Stoney so i won't go into it

Wanted to put this in my description, but it wasn't long enough, as i'm making this up as i go along, it'll probably change slightly from the condensed version i wrote in my character profile, think i rambled a little also hehe..........

btw, this character has nothing to do with Kagome, for those you know who she is(Inu Yasha main character)

http://www.ginyu-force.com/htdocs/pics/kaigame.jpg

Kaigame (Kai - gaa - mee)

Kaigame grew up in an alternate universe, on a planet which occupies the same temporal location as earth......called Kourul. the 3rd planet from it's three sun's, this unusual cluster of Stars has created an ambient magical field which enriches everything, from advanced life forms such as the inhabitants of Kourul to their plant life which by means of the magics(the magical field which will from now on be called magics) heals all wounds and if mixed properly, can produce power, which is how the major cities are supplied their electricity.

Kai was slightly unusual as she had a hightened sense of the magics and as such she could call upon them at will, something that only the elite magic users could manage. During her many years of training Kaigame learned the ways of earth manipulation, through her studies she had learned how to manipulate the earth itself and use it to her advantage, she had also experimented with teleportation, with mixed results, something that will come up later. often shunned by her peers for her magical prowess she had a lonely upbringing, only her acceptance into the Siu, Kourul’s equivalent to the military did Kai find peace within herself, being amongst similarly skilled people, and with her exceptional akill she soon climbed the ranks to reach the few Elite

The Siu were not militaristic in the manner of taking over countries and waging war, as widespread war as such did not exist, but for every kind hearted person endowed with the power of the magics, there would be an equally powerful dark hearted person let loose on the world, and this is why the Siu was formed, to keep the high level magic users in check, and to ensure the peace of tranquillity of the world of Kourul. A constant thorn in Kai’s career was a certain evil-doer name J’al, the two had pretty much been enemies from day one, and as such they kept on crossing paths on their individual journeys to peace and domination respectively, an arch rival so to speak.

Kai was assigned a mission, whether she was happy with it or not is another question, to apprehend her nemesis J’al, infiltrate her stronghold Itto keep without taking on too many minions, they would be dealt with accordingly, this was an ‘A’ ranked mission, the highest ranked mission within the Siu, normally Kai would be teamed with a small numbers of lower ranked Siu officers, but as none were available at the time, it had to be done solo, also due to time constraints as informants had noticed unusual movements within Itto keep possibly leading to a relocation. Armed with only her wits, and some temporary stealth powers provided by the Siu, Kai was Teleported into Itto Keep.

Itto Keep, a dark and dismal place, pipes running across the celing and mouldy walls set the scene for Kai’s mission. The Keep used to be an Electric power station until the advent of organic power came into being, as such; this hazardous building was vacated and left to rot, until J’al came along to use it for her evil needs. Kai managed to navigate the maze of corridors, using old utility maps to locate J’al’s position from the informants notes, she quickly came to J’al’s main chamber, trapped a couple of guards outside using her earth magics, and proceeded to apprehend J’al.

The two fought for ages, each able to negate the others powers, able to avoid attacks due to their magical prowess, it was a stalemate, something had to happen, someone had to fold, J’al was too much of a menace to be let free, she had to be brought to justice and Kai’s options were running out…quickly, but J’al would have the luck of the day. As Kai continued to attack, hoping that the Siu would send some backup, she attempted to use her disorientation abilities and massive stalagmites rose from the ground, J’al managed to dodge the attack as one of the pillars smashed through a control panel, an electrical surge emenated from the panel, and travelled back through the stalagmites magical energies to Kai, she had been caught with her own power!

As Kaigame writhed in pain from the electricity, she attempted to use her teleportation techniques, still an amateur in the ways of teleportation as she had only ever managed to move other objects and not herself, Kai disappeared from the room, J’al was bemused, and relieved, her arch nemesis had gone, where she did not know, her guard was down as a group of Siu operatives burst in to apprehend her, and succeeded……….

But still no sign of Kaigame, where had she gone?

Kai woke up in a hospital bed, barely able to see as she was exhausted from using her teleportation powers, all she could see were other beds with the words Galaxy City Medical services……

Where’s Galaxy City?
Where am I?
Whats happened to me?

Standing next to her bed were some strange people, the likes she had never seen before, with the initials P.C written on their clothing, who are these P.C people and how did she get here, all questions that need answers, and no one providing the answers.

Unaware that her own powers coupled with Portal Corps operations had brought her to Paragon City, and unaware of the dangers that followed, she set out to find the answers to her burning questions…..

To be continued……